E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Do you see a face in the back of this train? It's one of the images used by researchers to figure out which people are most inclined to see faces in objects.
People have claimed to see Jesus in their burnt toast. Others have spotted the Virgin Mary in a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich, or seen a vague resemblance to Elvis in an oddly shaped potato chip.
Courtesy of Tapani Riekki
Is this rock looking at you? Researchers showed subjects a group of images, like this one, to find out who was most likely to see faces on inanimate objects.
These folks aren't wacky or crazy, and they don't need their eyes examined. They're experiencing what's known as the illusory face perception, a tendency to see face-like areas in non-human things. They may see facial features in nature (in cloud formations or rock ledges) or inanimate objects (food or household items).
Now, a small study from Finland, published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, has attempted to find out what types of people are most likely people to pick up on these visual perceptions.
"An ability to see faces is more common in some people than others due to differences in how our brains process information," says study author Tapani Riekki, a doctoral student in the division of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology at the University of Helsinki. "It's normal, and actually fun, that our mind plays tricks and triggers the face perception when no actual faces are present," he suggests.
Researchers wanted to determine if religious and paranormal beliefs played a role in a person's ability to perceive a face when no face is truly there. So they recruited 47 men and women, and they compared 19 people who had a favorable opinion of paranormal powers -- such as clairvoyance and astrology -- to a group of 20 participants who were skeptical of these phenomena.
A second analysis compared results from 20 people who considered themselves religious to 19 non-religious individuals.
NBCNews.com
In 2004, a Florida woman sold this grilled cheese sandwich, which some say features the face of the Virgin Mary, for $28,000 on ebay.
In the study, researchers had volunteers complete a detection task: Participants viewed 185 color photos on a computer screen (98 had face pictures, 87 did not) and they had four seconds to determine if they could detect a face-like area with eyes and a mouth within each picture. If they saw a face, they were asked to point to its location.
The images included landscapes and nature scenes as well as buildings and objects. Some face-like features were staged (an arrangement of tools on a table), while others were found naturally in the real world (in rock formations or tree trunks).
The researchers purposely chose "face" photos that were harder to detect to better show the individual differences between all four experimental groups.
The study found that religious people and paranormal believers perceived more face-like areas when some were present compared to non-religious individuals and skeptics. But believers also saw more face-like patterns in pictures when none were there.
In Houston, scores of people believe an image of the Virgin Mary can be seen in a neighborhood tree. NBC's Courtney Zavala reports.
"Our results show that the difference between the groups is not at the perception level but at the level of interpreting," says Riekki. More specifically, they found that the difference was in how much information was needed to raise the perception of "something face-like" in the image.
Citrus Christ? Cheesus? 13 religious sightings
Paranormal and religious believers had a lower criteria for believing they saw a face, and they also rated faces as more face-like and showing stronger emotions. These findings imply believers may be more susceptible to the suggestion that faces may be present in the images.
"Even a small amount of information, perhaps just two dots that slightly resemble eyes may trigger the idea that this could be face-like," Reikki explains.
"In other words, the believer groups found more meaningful patterns in ambiguous pictures," he points out.
A British man says he passed out drunk while cooking bacon and woke up to see the face of Jesus in his pan. Willie Geist questions his story.
Face of pain? Man's image seen in ultrasound
Itchiness is contagious, just like yawning
Guys with shaved heads seem tougher, study finds
Young people can't read emotion on wrinkled faces
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
It's a long known fact of human biology that we are basically hard wired to recognize faces, so much so that we mistakenly identify things as having faces even when they don't. If a person finds the story of Jesus to be crucial to their faith, i don't think it's much of a stretch to have a similar reaction in terms of "looking for Jesus" put two and two together and you get the face of Jesus on your grilled cheese sandwich.
Agree, James.
I'm not a believer, but I see faces everywhere. Even in your pic, I see a goofy smiley face.
Than it would be a face within a face... It's a dude with glasses wearing a space helmet.
The toast looks like Jayne Mansfield
I think I remember reading in my Psych textbook that Schizophernics tend to see faces ( and eyes ) in carpets and other textured objects.
I think they should study that link and maybe combine it with overly religious folk.
I still think these folks aren't playing with a full deck. Fanatics! And they're allowed to walk the streets unfettered.
Jayne Mansfield? I see Bette Davis.
I was thinking Rita Hayworth. But really, one could say nearly any Golden Era of Hollywood actress - but not the Virgin Mary.
My favorite is Jesus seen in a Cheeto....Cheesus.
http://www.inquisitr.com/24253/cheesus-cheeto-jesus/
It's one thing to see a face in that stupid grilled cheese and a stretch to see one in a dirty window.
It's quite another to declare, "It's the Virgin Mary!!!" or "It's Jesus Christ!!!"
By what rationale does one arrive at that stupid conclusion?
I'm with Thom - looks like Rita or a model with sideswept bangs. Also, looks like an arm with a hand at the bottom of the face, giving us all the finger! I don't think Jesus would be doing that.
I see faces in lots of things. Especially, in bathroom tile. You can tell I spend a lot of my time and imagination in there. lol!
why in the world did this study try to link it to belief????????
seems more like a visual ability to take the abstract and turn it into something recognizable - and as suggested we are wired to see faces. i would guess if you studied people with no religous knowledge whatsoever, they would still link these abstractions to faces of people they know. this ability has nothing to do with belief systems and everything to do with interpretting geometrical abstractions.
what an incredibly stupid and slanted study - makes me wonder what their real agenda was in trying to link it to religion?
I'd say the outline looks more like Marlena Dietrich.
My first reaction was Marilyn Monroe. A little more saucy than the Virgin Mary, for sure.
That grilled cheese sammich looks like Zappa to me. I seriously doubt that I am mistaken and he might be coming back soon to save us from the current wave of horrible music.
Cincy -
mentally challenged
I saw Marlena Dietrich in the toast. Or Greta Garbo.
Grump...as soon as you said I saw it...That's Zappa.
The grilled cheese sandwich reminds me of Bernadette Peters.
He will return. Zappa is God.
You guys are all wrong -- the face in the sandwich is Greta Garbo.
I saw captain Hook on the grilled cheese sandwich.
The frying pan looks more like Frank Zappa!
They make it sound like a special group of people see these images. I mean, doesn't everyone see these?
Blake, no they don't. Therefore, you are "special".
Virgin Mary on the tree trunk? Nope. That's just a crotch shot of an old hag.
Some mice came to my door today and knocked. They said they wanted to talk to me about Cheeses.
I think the "woman" on the toast looks like a 1920s flapper.
Didn't understand what was said in the article about the methodology, did you? Or, perhaps you just didn't read it all the way through. Your questions were answered, and your assumptions shown to be faulty.
I see Jane Russell.
Why We Believe in Gods
No one actually knows what this person, Christ, looked like; there were no photographs and there were no artistic renditions. The image of Christ is something artist's made up way on down the road. The current images of Christ could be any Muslim you pass in the street.
.
That's Charles Manson in the frying pan...if you don't think so, just check Jesus' drivers license...
That's it: I'm on a mission- a mission to dig through potato chip bags, fry grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. all in an effort to find religious symbolism in it. Once achieved, I'll purport it to the media as a 'sign'... then sell it on eBay for thousands of dollars!
This is the answer to turn around our stalled economy and bring us back from the fiscal brink!!
Republicans see Jesus in the toast, Democrats see a pin-up girl... and everybody is happy... what I want to know is what happened to the jelly...
i seen Mrs. Butterworth on my pan cake...and Jack Daniels in my drink...
I think the biggest difference between the religious and non-religious in terms of seeing faces in objects is that the religious people are more likely to say the face is that of a particular religious figure (as in "oh! that's the virgin mary!") whereas non-religious people are less likely to identify the face as a religious figure (as in "oh, there's a woman on my toast!"). That's all.
Hey, grump in NM - those mice that knocked on your door - were they Cheeto-vahs Witnesses?
I see a pair of little boobies on the rock - I see boobies everywhere I go - mostly at Walmart, trying to escape their boulder-holders.
I know you guys saw the same thing I did in that tree trunk...if you find me really wasted one night with my legs wrapped around that tree, offer me a condom.
I wonder how many people went into denial about seeing things in objects just from the headline - I did...lol. I put in new oak doors in my old home, the one in the bathroom had a flaming owl on it staring at you...hoot hoot.
plain bob -- you need an auxillary verb if you are going to use the word 'seen';
"I have seen Mrs. Butterworth on my pancake."
Otherwise, you would say, "I saw Mrs. Butterworth on my pancake."
Has anyone actually seen a middle eastern jewish guy with long slightly wavy straight brown hair?! Seriously people think what would Jesus really look like?!
Let's build the picture. I will start us off.
Relatively shortish...dark skinned...nappy beard...really bad teeth...and rockin' a jewfro.
Annie; don't pick on us lesser humans - we have enough problems just trying to order regular coffee at Starbucks.
BTW; I'd like to cover you with some Mrs. Butterworth's...hehehe.
I'm not sure about seeing faces, but a grilled cheese sandwich sounds pretty good right about now.
She's got Bette Davis eyes.
I wiped my backside once and ended up with what looked like Mount Sinai to me. I thought about trying to sell it but alas I flushed it.
StMiller,
and more than likely profiled as a terrorist.
I saw a politician in a rump roast! Take your pick
Bigdogg...definitely he would get profiled. Can you imagine how that conversation would go with TSA...
I agree with many of the comments here. We all see a face be cause we're hard wired to recognize the pattern of a face as well as several other patterns as basic survival skills.
The jump to Jesus, the Virgin Mary, or even Elvis is what is amusing, though. Instead of honestly asking does this appearance of a face remind me of anyone specifically, the assumption is always one of the many iconic ones. That grilled cheese does look a lot more like any of those early Hollywood stars than Christ or Mary, but that isn't what most people want to see.
CincyJoe37
It's one thing to see a face in that stupid grilled cheese and a stretch to see one in a dirty window.
It's quite another to declare, "It's the Virgin Mary!!!" or "It's Jesus Christ!!!"
By what rationale does one arrive at that stupid conclusion?
Its called blind faith....serious emphasis on BLIND....
Tip: Try to remember to check for squirrels first, Condoms don't offer protection from teeth.
Conclusion of the study: Magical thinking makes you gullible. Which we have known since the beginning of religion.
RamFla:
Really? You're an expert about conclusions or is that your own?
Which we have known since the beginning of religion
Who is we?
It's ok, Bob... chill... now take deep breath... doesn't that feel better?
We need to try and see Gen. Petraeus in the picture, because he is literally toast right now!!! He engaged in magical thinking, that his status would save him from discovery.
Bob, I believe the 'we' pertains to rational people who see no reason to believe in magical sky-daddies.
who is the idiot that bought the toast for 28,000 on ebay? are you freakin kidding me!!! i would have donated that money to the SPCA or a homeless shelter. it just shows how crazy we have become!
I thought it was the Bieb in the toast, in which case it would be worth far more. For a second I thought it looked like Honey Boo Boo, then thought naw, it's the Bieb!
There's always someone with more money than brains...
The toast looks more like the face in the famous painting "The Scream"!!!!!!
That was my first thought.
The human brain is prewired to see faces. The toast image of 'the virgin Mary' looks more like Marilyn Monroe, and you really can buy waffle irons and toast presses with faces on them. Somebody got f&cked for paying $28,000 for a piece of toast.
my brain is missed wired all i see is feces...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acWqqn19x0g
lmao; bob, if your feces is white (like the dudes in the video), you need to stop eating dog food and going in the yard.
Looks more like Bernadette Peters to me.
I was thinking Michelle Pfieffer... But I can see Bernadette too.
Bernadette's round, pouty mouth can't be done justice in toast.
That toast is definitely Michelle Pfeiffer.
How funny! I responded to #6 before I read yours.....
Looks like Sigourney Weaver to me.
It looks like Einstein
naaaa maybe Rush...he is everywhere, I wish he were toast.
Its 80's janet jackson!
Yep, that's who I thought it was too!!
P.C.
Isn't it Tony Romo with a sad face (b/c he's an inconsistent loser) in the toast?!?!
No, no, no; the toast is obviously Mae West.
Louis the 14th
Louis the 14th
Dang bubblegum! Sorry about the multiples.
Nice tits!
Psychology established long ago that we are pretty much wired to identify patterns in what we see, including the tendency to see faces (a particularly important pattern).
However, that you see Jesus or Elvis or your dead mother is a function of memory and priority. It says nothing of divinity. If you regularly see Jesus in your food, SEEK HELP.
In other words, people who saw faces that didn't exist were more likely to be religious.
Uh DUHH!
Religious wacko's are also more likely to believe they are Napoleon
They are even more likey to believe that they have a personal relationship with the ruler of time space and dimension who will altar his grand plan at their request!
It is called mental illness, and it is RIPE in fundamentalist communities.
Lol, agreed!
William - I am not religious at all, but I do see faces in many things, including this toast. It's called "imagination", but it's more secular, in my case, than religious. I don't see Jesus there. At all.
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
Shouldn't it look like Obama? He thinks he is Jesus.
Get a life.
Chill, howieCA. At least it took 'til #13 for someone to insert a political crack in the comments.
Attention! Attention! Smartalek post alert!
I saw Obama in a blackboard.
I'm very sorry. I have a sort of posting tourette's syndrome.
All we can see is a typical long haired woman in her 20's. To the idiot that bought this toast, what will you see when the fungus/mold starts? Satan? We swear, people sometimes need to just "check in".
FuThen it might look like Shirley McClain in one of her past lives.
The grilled cheese face looks more like a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich to me.
Two days ago, not only Jesus was in my little toast, but also Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Philomena, Saint George, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Saint Maria Goretti, Saint Vincent de Paul with a friend that I could not recognize, Saint Hilary of Arles, and a lot of angels.
I could have become famous and be in the first page of NBC.com, but I was so hungry and that I ate it right away. I did not even photographed it.
Good Lord, Cesar, you could've set up a mega-shrine there.
Yes, Bubbacat, I just missed my chance to become a millionaire... :o(
My small company in Vermont plays on this phenomenon with their Jesus, Virgin Mary and recently sold out Obama toasters. Get a miracle with every slice!
I once bought a toaster in Anaheim and from that moment every toast that came out had Mickey Mouse's face on it.
Mickey Mouse IS God, it's the only logical conclusion.
Plus his face was on both side of the toast, you have to be omnipotent to do that...
It must annoy Jesus to have to speak through kitchen mishaps and cloud formations.
For those that see faces and feel that toast or chips are communicating with them there are medications that might help.
I think it looks more like Marilyn Monroe or Madonna.
The toast is definitely Bernadette Peters. Who knew she was so holy?
Thats May West!
You guys are missing the obvious- it's Frank Zappa after he shaved. Or Steven Tyler.
Seriously, hasn't anybody ever heard of the Rorschach ink blot tests? You can do it at home with your toaster!
Jesus on a dogs ass;
http://bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com/2006/09/jesus-image-found-in-dogs-butt.html
Thats obviously an animated gif.
Yes, but here's the version that hasn't been fiddled with: we present, dog butt Jesus! http://www.guanabee.com/media/uploads/dog_butt_jesus_medium.jpg
Jesus can only appear in tree knots and assorted food items, not a dogs butt! Don't be ridiculous. :o)
@J. Willard Marriot / Doctor Crispy
ROTFLMAO!
I think it looks more like a blond gatsby girl.
Close, it's Gloria Swanson!